University apologises to China for Dalai Lama's degree

A London University has issued an apology to the Chinese people for "any unhappiness" it caused by awarding an honorary degree to the Dalai Lama.

The move drew heavy criticisms from Tibetan freedom campaigners, who accused London Metropolitan University of pandering to the Chinese government to protect their lucrative overseas recruitment plans.

The university's vice-chancellor Brian Roper made the apology, via Chinese embassy officials, after being criticised in the Chinese press for the award to the exiled Tibetan leader in May.

Internet groups had been suggesting a boycott of the university, which recruits students from China and has its own offices in Beijing.

Norman Baker MP, president of the Tibet Society, said: "It's highly regrettable that the vice-chancellor has taken this decision. Tibet is an illegally occupied country where the indigenous population has been horribly abused by the Chinese authorities.

"He had nothing to apologise for. He should know better than allow himself to be a pawn in the Chinese government's game."

The Dalai Lama visited the university in May to collect a PhD in recognition of "outstanding achievements in promoting peace globally, as well as for his inspirational spiritual guidance and leadership".

His visit was closely followed by the international press and the move was criticised in Chinese reports.

On June 16, the vice-chancellor wrote to the Chinese embassy in London. Reports in the Chinese media, which are subject to some state control, suggested that the letter expressed regret over the honorary degree.

China Daily yesterday reported an embassy official saying that the letter acknowledged the award of the honorary degree had not been a "well-considered" decision.

A spokesperson for the university, which currently has 434 students from China out of 7,783 non-UK students, refused to reveal the contents of the letter, but confirmed that Roper had also met with officials at the embassy.

"I am able to confirm that the vice-chancellor of London Metropolitan University, Brian Roper, recently met with representatives of the embassy of the People's Republic of China in the UK.

"During that meeting, he expressed regret at any unhappiness that had been caused to Chinese people by the recent award of an honorary doctorate to the Dalai Lama. It was not the university's intention to cause any such unhappiness."

She emphasised that the apology was not for awarding the degree, only for the unhappiness caused by it, and the university would not be retracting the award.

However, Baker said that the apology raised serious questions about the university's autonomy: "The concept of academic freedom is limited by finance."

A spokesman for the University and College Union said: "It would appear that this embarrassing volte-face has been motivated by the lucrative foreign student market. Examples of universities making or changing decisions when a short-term pot of gold is available are sadly not as rare as one might expect." Last month, there were warnings about the UK university system's increasing reliance on the international student market.

Peter Williams, the chief executive of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), which is responsible for standards in higher education, said that the rise in overseas students - who pay higher fees - was pushing standards down as they expected their fees to lead automatically to a degree.

Of 240,000 students from outside the EU who study in UK universities, nearly 50,000 are from China. Fees for international students are unregulated.

London Metropolitan, which was formed in 2002 after the merger of two ex-polytechnics - London Guildhall and the University of North London - has strong links with Tibet. For the past 10 years, it has been offering scholarships to students from Tibet, and those from India and Nepal who are of Tibetan origin.